Sunday, 5 February 2012

‘Juggernaut’ – Adam Baker (Hodder & Stoughton)

I’ve said it before a number of times, here on the blog, but it’s always worth saying one more time. One of the things that I love the most (perhaps the thing) about reading books for the blog, and just reading in general really, is when I come across a book that just completely blows me away. It could be the characters, the plot or whatever; I’m just gripped for the entirety of the book and I’m practically gasping for breath by the time I put it down at the end. We’ve all read books like that haven’t we?
What’s even better is when it’s a book where I haven’t anticipated that reaction at all. We’ve all got our favourite authors where we’re guaranteed a great read but even those books can’t hope to beat a book that just comes right out of nowhere and flattens you with the tale that it has to tell. A book like Adam Baker’s ‘Outpost’ for example. I picked up ‘Outpost’ more or less on a whim (I love tales of the apocalypse and that was what was on offer here) and very quickly found that I couldn’t have put it down even if I’d wanted to. You can read my review Here if you like but here’s a couple of quotes that sum the whole thing up…

‘I really couldn’t put it down for a whole number of reasons, to the extent that I didn’t want to talk to people until I’d finished it. I finished it, put the book down and thought, ‘bloody hell...’ In the best possible way that is, any book that can put me through the wringer like that more than deserves praise.’

‘Outpost’ is a gloriously bleak read that offers you everything that a good apocalypse should and then proceeds to go one better in every area. You should read it, you really should.’

If you haven’t read ‘Outpost’ by now then I highly recommend you go and read it as soon as possible but I’m digressing.
I’d already made my mind up to check out more of Baker’s work and the arrival of an advance copy of ‘Juggernaut’ gave me the chance to do just that. What really sealed the deal for me though was the realisation that ‘Juggernaut’ was in fact a prequel to ‘Outpost’; I was really excited at the chance of finding out more about the Virus, where it originally came from and so on.
I got my wish but at a cost. ‘Juggernaut’ is a compelling read but not in the same league as ‘Outpost’…

It’s Iraq, in 2005, and seven mercenaries have just found themselves with a chance of becoming very rich. They have a guide who will take them into the desert and straight to a hidden cache of Saddam’s gold, enough to set all of them up for life. Their luck is about to change though and very much for the worse…
The team finds themselves marooned in ancient ruins with traitors in their midst and a shadowy government agency suddenly taking a keen interest in their activities. What’s far worse though is the army under their feet that is suddenly waking up; an army that will do anything to get their hands on fresh meat, an army that just won’t stay dead.

‘Juggernaut’ is not ‘Outpost’, of course it isn’t; ‘Juggernaut’ is it’s own book and very much does it’s own thing. A lot of what was good about ‘Outpost’ doesn’t seem to have found its way to ‘Juggernaut’ though and that’s a real shame. Like I said, ‘Juggernaut’ is a great read but I couldn’t help thinking what could have been…

Whereas ‘Outpost’ pretty much drops you in the middle of an already impossible situation (and has it get worse), ‘Juggernaut’ takes the approach of gradually building up to the big payoff. The problem is though that it takes just that little bit too long to get there and the transition from build up to full on action is choppy to say the least. ‘Juggernaut’ is not a smooth read, in that respect, and it really needed to be with the approach that it took.

What I also found odd was that for all the time it took to set up the mission, get to the ruined temple and so on, I never really got much of a feel for who any of the characters really were. To be fair, the frantic second half of the book doesn’t leave you a lot of time to get to know people but what about the long trip into the desert in the first half? Surely that was the time for introductions? There’s a very definite line drawn between ‘good’ and ‘evil’ but you can’t really root for the ‘goodies’ as you don’t know them. Contrast this with the characterization in ‘Outpost’ (which was very good) and you’ll get why I wasn’t too happy this time round.

When things do kick off though, you find yourself forgiving the bits that weren’t so hot earlier on. There’s a double-cross that you know is coming but at least two more that you don’t and this is what keeps the book fresh and engaging. Yeah, I could have done with more of this earlier but better late than never I guess.
The virus possessed ‘zombie’ soldiers make for some gripping reading as well. They are remorseless and the slightest scratch from one of them spells a demise that makes a regular zombie bite look like a wasp sting. No-one is safe and Baker does a great job of getting that fear across. The two mercenaries left must fight their own comrades as well as a vertaible horde of possessed soldiers that just will not stop coming. Baker does a superb job of drawing you into those moments of quiet and then, when it’s far too late, showing you that it’s not so quiet after all…

Fans of ‘Outpost’ will also get a lot out of ‘Juggernaut’ for the gaps it fills in as far as the arrival of the virus, on Earth, goes. There is more going on in the background than you thought and it fleshes out the overall story more than satisfactorily.

That wasn’t quite enough to save ‘Juggernaut’ for me though. Once it got going I couldn’t put it down but its departure from the tried and proven formula that worked so well for ‘Outpost’…? That was where things fell down for me.
There is a third book in the works and you can bet on my being there for its publication as the overall story line is one that just has to be read. I’m hoping for more along the lines of ‘Outpost’ though…